National Affairs: No Killing in Kansas

On the eve of the Kansas Legislature's adjournment last week, Governor
Harry Woodring vetoed three bills to restore Death by electricity as
the maximum Kansas punishment for first-degree murder or robbery with
firearms. The last legal execution by the State was in 1870. Amid a
chorus of praise and protest Governor Woodring explained: "My veto of
these bills is not actuated by any maudlin sympathy for the criminal.
It is axiomatic that it is not the severity but the certainty of
punishment that deters the criminal. Public opinion is overwhelmingly
against these bills."...